ORDER OPHIDIA. 327 



Leposteinon and Typhlops afford no materials for discus- 

 sion in this place. 



The first of the serpents proper, as our author terms 

 them, is Tortuix. Among the different species we shall 

 notice the anguis scytale. The head is small, oval, depressed, 

 and rounded in front. The eyes are very small, and, as 

 well as the nostrils, situated on the middle of a plate. The 

 body and tail are cylindrical, and of equal bulk throughout. 

 The scales are smooth and reticulated, not imbricated. The 

 teeth are small, simple, and sharp. The general colour is 

 white, with a small tint of yellowish ; and there are about 

 sixty black bands, irregular, transversal, and forming, for the 

 most part, interrupted rings. This reptile is about thirty 

 inches in length at the most. 



The anguis scytale is an inhabitant of South America, par- 

 ticularly Cayenne and Surinam. It lives on caterpillars, 

 worms, and small insects, but especially on ants. It appears 

 to have the habits of the amphisboena. The negroes are very 

 much in dread of it, but obviously without any reason. 



The tortricV, or anguis corallinus, is an inhabitant of 

 South America. Its colour is a beautiful red. According 

 to Laborde, in Guiana, its bite is venomous and very danger- 

 ous ; and if Gumilla, the author of the Natural History of 

 Orinoco, is to be believed, it is very much to be dreaded. 

 This does not seem very probable, though, as the Baron ob- 

 serves, it is by no means certain that all serpents without 

 venomous fangs are perfectly harmless in this way. 



The genus Boa, though without venomous fangs, approxi- 

 mates very much to the crotali. This name employed by 

 Pliny, and subsequently by Johnston, Agricola, and Ruysch, 

 indicated, according to those authors, the habits of this ser- 

 pent, which was accustomed to follow the hinds, to fasten 

 itself to the teats of cows, and suck their milk. Other writers 



